Uncle's Body At Joliet Cemetery: Anthony Harames Wants Out Of Jail

JOLIET — Now that summer is here, one of the Will County Jail's most notorious inmates, Joliet first-degree murder defendant Anthony Harames, is hoping to convince Will County Judge Sarah Jones that it's time to let him go home.

Utilizing the SAFE-T-Act, downtown Joliet private defense counsel Eric Mitchell of Mitchell Legal Solutions filed a motion seeking his client's pretrial release. The motion reminds the judge that Harames is in the custody of the Will County Jail and "that defendant is presumed entitled to pretrial release under" the SAFE-T-Act that took effect in 2023.

"Defendant Anthony Harames respectfully moves this honorable court to grant pretrial release, or if the court finds reason, set conditions for pretrial release," Mitchell's filing states.

Judge Jones has scheduled a July 1 motion hearing on the matter of releasing the Joliet first-degree murder defendant from jail. She occupies Courtroom 501 at the new courthouse.

Since Dec. 9, 2021, Harames has remained under the jurisdiction of the Will County Sheriff's Office since Joliet police detectives had him arrested for the November 2021 stabbing death of his 53-year-old uncle Timothy Bokholdt.

After killing Bokholdt, Harames loaded up his uncle's body inside a vehicle and drove to the Woodlawn Cemetery along West Jefferson Street, and he disposed of his uncle's body in the back of the cemetery in November 2021, according to Joliet police.

For several weeks, none of the visitors or maintenance staff at Woodlawn Cemetery ever realized that Bokholdt's body was dumped at their sprawling cemetery.

A month later, Harames engaged in a standoff with Joliet police that lasted several hours into the night, inside his missing uncle's house in the College Park subdivision. The next day, according to Joliet police, Harames led the detectives to the hiding spot where he put his uncle's slain body, at the Woodlawn Cemetery.

Joliet police believe his homicide happened around Nov. 17, 2021. The uncle died from a stabbing inside his house on Natoma Court, Joliet police have said.

"When Joliet police detectives interviewed Harames, he admitted to killing the victim with a knife weeks prior and then used the victim's vehicle to transport the body to Woodlawn Cemetery where he disposed of the victim's body," Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English announced.

Back in April, Mitchell filed an emergency motion seeking to transport Harames to the funeral services of a relative. The court filing indicated that Harames' 12-year-old cousin recently died, and the funeral services will be held at Blackburn, Giegerich Sonntag Funeral Home at 4 p.m. on April 26 and "the defendant desires to be transported by the Will County Sheriff's Office to the funeral home to pay his last respects."

In that instance, Judge Jones rejected the motion seeking to let the first-degree murder defendant attend the funeral service on Black Road.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

• Joliet Killer Waited 5 Days To Move Body To Cemetery: Prosecutors
• Woodlawn Cemetery Murder Revisited 1 Year Later
• Is Joliet Murder Defendant Anthony Harames Fit To Stand Trial?
• Joliet Killer Dumps Uncle's Body In Woodlawn Cemetery: Police